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Troubled Islamic mortgage lender Amlak (AMLK.DU: Quote) said on Thursday net loss for the first-quarter soared hurt by higher provisions and a sharp drop in revenues.

The Dubai lender made a net loss of 53.9 million dirhams ($14.67 million) for the quarter, compared with a loss of 3.1 million dirhams during the same period in 2010, it said in a statement to the Dubai bourse.

Revenue from financing and investing activity fell by 17 percent during the quarter, the company said, due to no new business over the past two years, continuing into 2011.

Saudi Arabia’s governor to OPEC refuted forecasts that the world is running out of oil and said the “sustainable” long-term price is $70 to $80 a barrel.

“Contrary to some oil pessimists -- because there has been talk of oil peaks -- the world’s oil resources have actually increased,” Majid Al-Moneef, Saudi Arabia’s governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said today in Brussels. “That’s despite cumulative production that was close to 500 billion barrels. So the message is that the resource base is plentiful. So the future is still potentially promising.”

Dana Gas, the UAE energy firm, faces delayed payments of $148 million for gas from the Egyptian government which could have an impact on its future investments in the country, Dana's CEO told Reuters on Thursday.

"We have a four to five months delayed payments from the Egyptian government which is an amount of $148 million," Ahmed al-Arbeed told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Dana Gas has significant investments in Egypt and said it produced 4.25 million barrels of oil equivalent (BoE) in the country during the first-quarter of this year.

Tamweel PJSC (TAMWEEL), the home finance company majority owned by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, surged 12 percent on speculation the drop in the past two days was overdone.

The shares, which had been suspended for more than two years until May 10, soared to 89.7 fils. They rose 9 percent to 87.4 fils at 11:36 a.m. in Dubai. Earlier they slid to 72.2 fils. Tamweel tumbled 19 percent in the first two trading sessions since Nov. 20, 2008.

“Investors started seeing value at current prices,” said Mohammed Galal, head of foreign institutional sales trading at HC Securities in Dubai. “Whether it’s sustainable or not is yet to be seen, but my take is that it’s not, as it seems that the buyers were mostly looking for a fast buck. Nevertheless, I don’t think today’s lows will be seen again for the short to medium term at least.”

Gulf Arab companies have lagged state-linked firms in issuing bonds, held back by the credit crunch and regional strife, but with about $60bn in refinancing coming up by 2012, more could soon hit the road to lure global investors.

Corporates that tap debt markets can expect to meet healthy demand, due in part to the dearth of issuance compared with government-related firms and the prospect of high coupon rates, investors say.

Portfolio managers holding bonds issued by Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) last July have already made a cash return of about 11 percent on the investment. KIPCO is the biggest investment firm in Kuwait yet it offered its bond at an alluring 9.5 percent.